Christmas-Film-Fest

We spent Saturday having a Christmas-film-fest at the cinema - went in at 5pm watched Fred Claus, came out and went next door for a meal, then went back at 8pm and watched Enchanted!! Phew!
Fred Claus was good (more heartwarming than I thought it would be - both M and myself were a bit teary at the end (though he'll probably deny that!)) ......
but Enchanted was FANTASTIC!!! Best film I've seen for ages. If you're going to see a film over the holiday go see this - it was sooooooo good!! It had a bit it of everything - singing, slapstick comedy, gross-out comedy and some romance and a happy ending - well it is Disney what do you expect: everyone has to live happily ever after! Great film.

tweet tweet

I've made some little birds to hang - red and gold one is going to look cute hanging on my parents christmas tree, and I've yet to decide where to hang the little pink one... I'm going to make a larger white one (with pale turquoise plumes) tomorrow for our tree... after I've made the christmas cards....

It's being added to an ever growing 'to-do' list!!

Christmas Masterboard

I've had a great time over the last couple of weekends teaching up at Card Inspirations - I really enjoyed it and here's a peek at what I taught in the Christmas Masterboard class (loving the Hero Arts stamps we used!).

The shop is getting some great products in - Basic Grey, the Bind-it-all and Cricut machines....... lots of exciting things!

I'm looking forward to more teaching in the New Year.

Christmas is coming......

Apparently I was 'a bit' "bah humbug" last year! So this year I'm determined to be much more christmassy! Trying to do something christmas related each day.


We've put up our christmas tree - and very pretty it looks too - even if I do say so myself!
For a few years now I've been saying I'll change any threads on baubles to green - instead of gold or silver so that you only see the bauble not the hanging thread - so thats what I did yesterday while M decorated the rest of the tree.... team work ...... I stood up to admire his hard work and he'd done a nice job (normally decortating the tree is my job and I'm quite protective of it!) and I walked around the tree to get the full affect ...............................



but he'd only decorated the front of the tree!!!!!!!!!!!!!! apparently he didn't see the point in decorating the back of the tree that faced into the bay window as we live on the first floor and no-one would be able to see the decorations!!!!

Needless to say we now have deccy's on the back of the tree!

lol

I've started a mini(ish) book about the lead up to christmas - notes about what I've been up to - trying to keep track of my growing christmassy-ness.

I ordered J a Robert Sabuda pop-up book as one of his christmas gifts. These books are amazing (there are 2 on my christmas list) really great pop-ups generally done in white which makes them really effective - I particulary like the page where the snowman raises his hat! The mechanics of the pages are mind boggling!
While on Amazon ording J's book I ordered a small Sabuda book for myself (it all goes towards building up my christmas spirit!) and the book is sitting in the lounge open - like a christmas ornament.... here's one of my favourite pages:

too cold to be creative!!!

I went to the studio today to get in a whole day of creativity..... it was sooooooooooooooooooooooo cold in there I lost feeling in my fingers!!!!! lol ... tshirt, fleece top (with the hood up), scarf, and as a last resort my new (yummy) lime green quilted gillet (I didn't want to put it on 'cos I didn't want to get it dirty but it was soooo cold I had to) and I was STILL cold (fingers and toes!)... so I gave up and came home! The studio electric heater seems to have died- may it RIP. M has been and bought a new heater for the studio and its very cute and very reliable but will only heat one area at a time so I think we may need a big bad-ass heater!!
But please don't think the studio is totally without comfort - we have heating... we just have to remember to turn it on (and off) (its a cost thing)!! But believe me, its now on! so now when we go in tomorrow it'll be lovely and toasty!
(but just in case I'm putting on a few extra layers! lol and I may go and invest in some, currently very trendy, fingerless gloves/arm warmers!!)

sneak peek for class at Card Inspirations, 8th December

Some days its nice to just 'play'......

'The Big One'

This month's ArtyATCs - 24 of them!! 72 stamped images, 72 flowers, 48 diamantes and the word 'nature' punch-taped 24 times (much to Ms annoyance!!)(he suffers for my art! lol ) and here they are..............(well some of them anyway!) and in the top left corner is the co-ordinating card (sorry for the reflections on the cards - they were all in protective sleeves ready for sending) (I created the ATCs by using a big image that could then be cut in half - the Dragonfly stamp (gorgeous) was ideal for this.)

Busy, Busy, Busy

I'm busy doing lots of work but not all of it visual! (ie nice piccies for blogging!)
So to summarise:

• Taught at CI for 2 days weekend before last - really good, I hope the customers/students enjoyed it as much as I did!
• Went to a Quickutz day at Gatwick yesterday - worth the drive - really enjoyed it, met some nice people, won a great prize (my name got picked out of a hat - how fab is that!)... and bought a digital die cut machine (birthday present) - that I can't/won't play with at the moment as I don't have time - humph! - I just know that if I unpack it and set it up I will play with it for hours and I just don't have the time (see to-do list on last post!)... but perhaps if I'm really good and get lots done maybe I can reward myself with a 'quick' 1/2 hour trial!
• Working on current courses...
• Getting ready for Art-o-matic classes starting this week - its christmas based and its going to be good!! I'm definitely(hopefully) going to be more in the mood for Christmas this year than I was last year - but that's not going to be hard: I was very 'bah humbug!' last year! lol
• Getting ready to run a class for the Tollesbury creative group this coming saturday...
• Still working on 23 ATCs......

See what I mean - not the most interesting of posts but they'll return to pretty pictures soon - promise! lol

Champagne, Elvis and Surgery!

Yep, its that time of year again - another year older and a little bit wiser (?) . . . . . .

Yesterday, to celebrate, we had lunch at The Glasshouse (mmmmm Lamb Shank),
then back to ours for cake and Grand Prix (J was rooting for Lewis Hamilton... ah well, nevermind),
then today (my actual birthday)(I like to eek it out as long as possible!) I was treated to breakfast in bed (Bucks Fizz is the best way to start the day!),
then an hour of the Elvis DVDs I was given as a pressie - the '68 comeback tv special - the iconic black leather outfit show (Elvis- "man, this suit is hot"),
then lunch with mum & dad,
followed by a trip to the Doc's surgery for minor surgery- mole removal (!!!). Just what everyone wants on their birthday isn't it! (and phrases you don't want to hear from the doctor who's doing the procedure - "your left arm? ... which one is that"?!) Eek!
Ending with a dinner with Matt....
(oh, and tomorrow its lunch with T, and then on Sunday I'm off to a Quickutz day to see if I like the Silhouette die cutting machine and maybe get it for my bday (and this day includes yet another lunch)).
I will be a blimp with legs at this rate - I think it may be possible to have too many meals out!.......
Good times and great pressies (and some more on their way)...
I want to get creative soon with a mini book so that I can use my new Bind-it-all!! mmmmmm -but its a bit low down my (ever growing) to-do list - much more pressing jobs: card samples, 23 ATC for the yearly 'Big One' over at ArtyATCs, a christmas card order and some class planning................. best I get on with all that and stop writing this! (and get some ibuprofen on the way to ease my wounds!!)

Tag using distress inks, and an image from PaperArtsy Noel Plate No.3. I love that image for its gothicness (not a real word I'm sure but you get what I mean!).. Mini flourishes from Hero Arts, and my usual faves - butterfly, gems and text.

(having uploaded the photo i've noticed its not quite in focus - will try again...)

New Cards.....

Christmas card designed for November's card class (using PaperArtsy Noel Plate 6) ......
















Do you think there's a health and safety issue here?!
(Phoebe snoozing on the paper trimmer/ guillotine !)

My name is ....

This is my name badge for when I go and teach independently - made from my current favourite things (and stuff off my desk!) - bit of felt, some felt balls, buttons, a bit of Hambly, a bit of corrugated cardboard, and some die cuts . . all mounted on a tag - could it be more me?? (oh, I forgot something sparkly... I'll save that for another badge!)

Eye Candy & Inspiration.....

... comes from everywhere:

Bag of sweets:

These are the fruit version of licourice allsorts. When I first saw these I thought the concept was just wrong - completely - because Licourice Allsorts are perfect as they are (except for the little blue Bertie that comes in every packet - gross - but that's a whole other debate!) so I bought them just to see what they were like..... this picture is of the second packet! M and I ate the sweets before I got a chance to photograph them! Speaks for itself really.... very tasty.. and SOOOOO PRETTY! Look at the pretty colours.....


Latest win from Ebay.. I bought it to use the number boards in ..erm.. well, erm something at some point.. but look at it! Its so lovely - how can I split it all up! I'm going to have to scan the boards and use it that way (the game set is quite old, has been well used and loved and now it would seem disrespectful in someway to take it apart!.... I might use the number disks in someway to start and take it from there...)


A metal shoe in Hobbycraft - really liked this but didn't buy it because I still have 3 wire handbags under the desk waiting to be dressed/altered so until I've done something with those I'm not buying any other wire forms (but a girl really should have shoes to match her handbags shouldn't she?!)

Christmas Dec's Artgirlz style!

I was sick yesterday - struck with a headache that started on Thursday morning (but I put it off with Ibuprofen because I had to be somewhere) but it arrived with a bit of a wallop again so I laid in bed all day feeling sorry for myself!

And then when I felt better I sat up in bed and made this...

How cute is this tree- its a kit from Artgirlz. It only measures 10 inches tall. Sitting and sewing all the embellishments on reminded me how much I like sewing . . . . .

Artgirlz make all these great felted items (I particularly like the felt/wool balls which now come in 3 sizes) - I used them on one of my ATC tins .

More items with felt and sewing to come - putting it on my ever growing to-do list... got to get my head in christmas mode.........

The Cat's Book....

I had a day in the Studio this week spent finishing projects... here is the finished book about our cats... it only measures about 8cm, using Adirondack dabber acrylic paints and PaperArtsy's Cats Meow 'Cats' plate.

I also cleared up a bit - couldn't quite see the desk top!
and although the desk is nice and big - about 1.2m I'm only working on a space slighly larger than A4! - the rest of the desk is covered in 'stuff' ... I've got to get back into the habit of tidying up at the end of each day (why spend the first 10 minutes of a day clearing up what you did yesterday??!)

(this picture (taken on Monday or Tuesday) is obviously before I cleared up!!) (but when I popped in yesterday as part of my search to find my diary (phew, found it!) to be honest it didn't look much different! lol)

Butterfly mask

This is a sample I made with one of my new favourite things... Heidi Swapp masks - this is the butterfly one.
I was just doing a really quick 'thing' to see how it came out ... so I stuck the mask onto a sketchbook page that was laying on the desk (there's a lot of those), stippled lettuce and denim (love that colour combo) inks over it and then - 'cos I was on a 'what happens if I do this...' roll by then - peeled it off and stamped over the top of what was left... I really liked it (mmmm could also combine with sequin waste (gotta love that sequin waste!!).
I like that you can see the pencil notes behind the image.

Interior Design Eye Candy!!

The new colours, fabrics and wallpapers from Designers Guild are fantastic - I got loads of inspiration from this ad - so gorgous!!

Love the colour combinations - fuscia & lime, teal/turquoise and chocolate.... LUSH!!!

Birds have flown..... to ArtyATCs

I made a simple set of ATCs for this months theme of Birds......, and here is one of them with the matching card - I always put the ATCs in a co-ordinating card when sending them to to the swap hostess...

its a simple card but I really like it - taking the 'less is more' approach (nb. after I'd taken this photo I penned a silver centre to each flower)

(and I was ahead of the deadline!. . . yeay for me!)

(the bird stamps are from a set of 4 from Hero Arts, branch stamp is Great Impressions)

ART-O-MATIC CHRISTMAS CREATIVITY

Summer's gone - and over at Art-o-matic we're getting ready for the Festive Season! (!!)

* mixed media class : christmas cards & decorations *
4 week course, £35.00

Tuesdays . . 7.30-9.30pm . . 30/Oct/07 - 20/Nov/07

(sample class kit (actual will be differ slightly) but will include wire, gilding, )

If you're interested in attending please email

ho ho ho

Cards....

recent card commission....


Piccy on left features gilding with the new staz-on glue pad - really good product - can be used with bronzing powders AND gold leaf!

eeek!

eeeek! my blog went down over the weekend - don't know what happened but its OK now - phew!


Someone has taped this notice on the door of an empty shop in Leigh - I thought that was very resourseful of them! - If you want a certain type of shop in your town - ask! If you don't ask you don't get.
(though the person should maybe take a quick walk around the town - there is a haberdashers and two shops that sell art equipment, just around the corner from where the sign was!)

I'll let you know if they get their request!!

** I'M GOING TO SEE PRINCE IN CONCERT **!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The purple wonderfullness (is that even a word? - I don't know, don't care!!) that is Prince at the O2 Stadium in London, in the round !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we're sitting (well, probably jumping up & down & dancing :o)) 5 rows from the front!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Thank you sooooo much Matt!!) (and sorry M, in advance - this is going to cause me to be singing lots of Prince tracks for a while (before and after the event!) .........)

Now, please excuse me while I go off and dance like a person possessed around the flat for a while - probably 'til I have to go to college at 12.00!! (and I may start again when I get back!!!)

Will post something more creative and sensible later!

Did I mention that I'm going to see Prince!!??

Sun Sun Sun

Sunny! Not a cloud in the sky - not one, not a single one, nothing ...... for 4 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I quite miss the clouds! (NOT!) I would show you photos but I can´t so just sit back, close your eyes and imagine a clear blue sky........ and a gentle breeze......
Its a tough job but someone´s got to do it!!
(actually the toughest job of this week has been to find my way around this foreign keyboard!! took a while and some assistance from the front desk to find the ´@´ key! ) far too taxing so I´m going back to my sunbed - via the bar.... there´s a cocktail with my name on it I think....

Isn't that just typical?!!

I lost my bone creaser about 2 months ago.... (a proper made-from-bone bone folder, not a plastic one) and so when I went up to London yesterday for my MOT I went to Faulkner Fine Papers in Southampton Row (mmmmnnn nice shop!) and bought a new one (from the shop I bought the first one!)... I resisted the Teflon one.. at £12.00 for a small one it was quite easy to resist! :o) but hey a bone bone folder is what I wanted so thats what I bought.

And do you know what Matt found today when he went into the boot (no, the spare wheel compartment) of my car... yes everyone wins a prize! he found my original bone folder!!!!!!!!!!!

aaaaarrrrghhhhh! I'm really pleased its been found but couldn't it have been found a couple of days (months?) ago when I was looking for the bloomin' thing.. and not the day after I'd bought a new one!! lol

I didn't realise how much I used the bone folder/creaser until I lost it! (and hey, now I have 2 - you can never have too many!......)

And while I was in London I went to Blade Rubber as this shop is just around the corner from the hospital - I like to go in there as a treat for having been to the hospital (oh please - like I need an excuse to go into a craft shop!)... aaanyway they had a stand of books and magazines for sale. And there it was - Somerset Wedding 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With my front cover!! Ive never seen the publication on a rack, in a shop, for sale!!!!!!!!! So of course I had to take a photo!!!!!!

I can't help it - it still makes me smile when I see the cover in print or somewhere unexpected. (I'll get over it ... eventually!)

Also Cath at Katy's Corner sent me the Stampington's Artful Blogger publication that I'd ordered(Thanks Cath!). I was going to take it away with me but I think its best not to as I'll just want to sit in front of a computer and check out all the great blogs that are featured instead of relaxing in the sun! So its going to have to stay at home - there were just too many great sites in it to resist!!

Lots going on so I'm having a short break from the blogging. Back soon.

Teaching @ Card Inspirations

Went up to Tewin, Hertforshire at the weekend to meet the new owners of Card Inspirations.
Had a good meeting and I'm going to be teaching there a couple of times before Christmas. I'm really looking forward to it.
Check the Card Inspirations site for class details, the photos below are little tasters of what I'll be doing......

357 ATCs

I'm aware that I post a lot of 'in progress' items! (its just that I have lot of things on the go at one time!)

So, just to show that I do actually finish items here are pics of the ATCs from the post earlier today.... finished! (nb. in reality they're not quite as 'green' as this photo, and the chipboard numbers are a black/gold interference mix thingymajiggy (I haven't got the ink pad here but I think its Brilliance Lightning Black)).

(I've also linked these to the 'Think Monday, Think ATC' site, the first time I've done this.)

I've had a small white ATC tin sitting in our kitchen waiting to be altered/ prettied up for about 6 months.

Here's what I did with it! (Finally)


Basic Grey papers, Got Flowers flowers (just seen at the top of the piccy), ArtGirlz mini wool balls (I love these mini versions of the balls - they make good 'berries'), and Heidi Swapp bling strips.










ATCs in progress - the piccy on the left is of a set which I like but were too 'flat' (so remain unfinished) and so i made a second set (on the right) with a bit more dimension - the image panels have since been coloured and the chipboard numbers are going to be embossed.... still in progress!
(but just wanted to show that I have been busy)

Have also been card making again but can't show those as they were a commission and haven't been sent/received yet!

Swivel card (or flip-flap)...

This card is still in progress... embellishments and bits still to be attached and an image on the reverse side.. but I thought I'd better get some creativity on here rather than random pictures of the seaside and flocked wallpaper!!

And this is a chipboard tag book (maya road) - also in progress - with a chipboard letter on each page spelling out my name and showing pics of my favourite things. Using the gorgous Scarlett's letter papers from Basic Grey, and with pictures printed off using my new favourite piece of kit - the HP Photosmart A618 photo printer. Its such a fantastic piece of kit - I love it! The colours are really true, and its so portable... Love it! I can take it to the studio, choose photos from the camera memory card (thats inserted into the printer), print them off and put them in a scrapbook there and then!

NB - the photos not really very interesting I realise but its the only one I have of the book at the moment!

This months ATC for ArtyATC - Theme of 'Dreaming'. The text on the ATC reads

'If these spirits have offended, Think but this and all is mended, That you have just slumbered here, While these visions did appear'

from a Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare (it seemed quite appropriate!). And the Fairies are from PaperArtsy.

I was a bit late on the deadline for this months theme - I'm determined NOT to be next month (also because we'll be on holiday when the deadline comes round) so I'm doing them this week!

OOOOH I do like to be beside the Seaside....!

oooh I do like to live beside the seeeeeaaaaaaaa



We went for a quick walk after dinner last night and also took some photos - the paint on these boats would make great backgrounds for altered works wouldn't they... I'm reaching for my distress inks . . ...... !